Men's Swimming & Diving Headline

Saturday January 28, 2006Gators Defeat Tennessee On The Road 123-113

The
seventh-ranked men’s team earned their third consecutive win over Tennessee, 123-133, on Saturday afternoon at the UT Student Aquatic Center. The Gators won
six swimming events before exhibitioning the final three races.

Florida opened the meet by placing first in
the 400 medley relay with a season-best time of 3:16.35. The team of senior Ryan
Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.), freshman Bradley Ally (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), sophomore Tim Hughes (Winter Park, Fla.) and senior Nick
Borreca (Honolulu, Hawaii) topped the previous best of 3:16.40, which was set
at the Purdue Invitational earlier this season.

Sophomore Tobias
Work (Falmouth, Mass.) won the 1000 free race for the third time this
season with a time of 9:07.00. Sophomore Max Jaben (Overland Park, Kan.) clocked a season-best time of 9:21.32 to earn second place, while sophomore Dustin
McLarty (DeLand, Fla.) placed third in a time of 9:25.90.

The Gator
distance swimmers had a strong day, not only sweeping the 1000 free but taking
four of the top five positions in the 500 free. Work led the way by placing
first in a time of 4:27.62 for his second individual victory of the afternoon.
Jaben placed second in a time of 4:33.07, while sophomore Kevin Nead (Ithaca, N.Y.) and McLarty placed fourth and fifth respectively.

“They were
just so tired earlier in the year it was hard for them to race,” Florida head coach Gregg Troy said. “The work they put in all year is now starting to show
up. Last week Max Jaben had a big mental lift last week against Auburn and swam well again today. Tobias has been good for us all the time.”

Lochte
remained undefeated in dual meet races this season and has not lost a race since
his sophomore year. On Saturday he won both the 200 free (1:36.89) and 200 back
(1:43.27).

“I think
what makes it’s a big accomplishment because we’re not hiding him,” Troy said. “He is racing different events and doing a full training schedule all the time.
It’s not by design; he just does not like to lose. That type of streak would be
like a quarterback not throwing an interception for three seasons.”

Ally
continued to establish himself as one of the top medley racers in the nation,
by winning the 200 IM for the fifth time this year. Ally’s time of 1:49.41 was
two seconds faster than Tennessee’s Casey Dauw, who finished second. Freshman Ron
Ballatore (Gainesville, Fla.) place third with a time of 1:52.85, while Nead
placed fourth with a time of 1:52.87.

Freshman Jonathan
Wilcox (Yarrow Point, Wash.) bounced back from a soar back last week to win
the one-meter dive with a score of 300.37. Junior Justin Schmidt (Falcon, Col.) placed second with a score of 284.40.